Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-10-06
AIN INTEREST IN LIFE.
How Existence Can Be Made Attractive
i'm Spite of Discouragements.

How Existence Can Be Made Attractive
In Spite of Discouragements.
Half the illnesses and more than
half the unhappiness in life come from
the want OF some active outside inter-
astonishing to take the person out
OF himself; chiefly though out of her.
self; and give her things to think Of
beyond her own sensations-things to
sympathize with beyond her own vague
disappointments and shadowy desires.
The spiritual baroness of egotism and
Of idleness makes life very desert,
where no green thing f1ourishes. which
no dew from Heaven rcfreshes, nor
living water rejoices. Self-centered and
uninterested, life to such an one is but
a poor entertainment for the senses;
and the deeper emotions and affections
have no share therein. The order OF
the day. with all its necessary circum-
stances of food, and gradual wear
ing OF the morning through the noon
to evening. and the sleep. which is
only the elimination Of the lethargy
of the waking hours-is one long round
of WEAKNESS and dissatisfaction. Like
withered boughs which bear no roses,
not an hour has its moment of delight,
not an action has its hope of Joy on
fulfillment of pleasure. The dull day
creeps sluggishly from dawn to close,
and not new thought has been
awakened nor new sensation aroused.
Marion in the 'Moated Grange was
not more dreary than the man OF
woman who has no outside interest,
and whose life is bound up in self; and
no prisoner ever hailed the free air oil
Heaven with more rapturous gratitude
than would such an one if set in the
way to make that interest and enlarge
those boundaries. For we must never
forget that many things which look
like faults, and pass under the name
of faults. are in reality misfortunes-
the result of conditions made for ms
and not by us, and not to be broken
by such energy as we possess.
In this one word indeed lies the
heart of the matter. With energy we
make an interest for ourselves. in spite
of the poverty of our circumstances.
Without it. opportunities of rich en-.
joyment pass by unutilized, and we
let slip all chances for lettering oul
fate. It is misfortune to be born
one of the passive. the negative. un
energetic, who divide the world with
the active and energetic. Most things
in life that are worth having at all
have to be sought and pursued, if they
are to be captured and held fast.
Neither fortune nor pleasure knocks
persistently at any mans door, but
each has to be at the least looked fol-
up and down the street. and invited in
if it is desired to entertain either
But the unenergetic take no pains tc
find these radiant guests. If they do Of
come unbidden they do not come at all;
and the flowers and gems borne by the
sluggish steam on it's bosom are left to
drift into the great ocean of things now
impossible, because Of the want of en-.
ergy to seize them as they passed. The
energetic, on the contrary. are of those
who improve their holding. No mat
Ter how poor the soil-how unpropi
tious the surroundings-th know
whence to gather rich material and
fertile seed for the better harvest
and the heavier crop. i
they are of those whose circum
stances preclude the need of exer
ton, they make some extraneous in
terest for which they have to work ane
think, and in a manner sacrifice theil
comforts, and break up the deadly
monotony of their self-indulgence-
that monotony which kills the inel
nature when INDUCED in without
break. and which makes the verJ
misery of the rio
No matter what the interest so lona
as we make one for ourselves. From
art to religion, and from philanthropy
to needle work, all is useful, if somI
forms are purer and nobler thai
others. Many people do very bad ar
paint pictures that are caricatures
sing in voices to which tin kettles ar|
as silver bells; write books, innocen
Of the very elements of composition
but all the same they have an intereA
which has lifted them out of the dead
ly dizziness of the past. If they hay
no higher vocation, and their power
are not capable of attaining Create
results, it is better for them to use
them on these lower levels than not al
all; and the world benefits, at least il
so far that they are tn ereby rendered
happier-with the consequent result o
greater happiness radiated on tt
others. If they are we'll endowed they
do good work in itself, and the worle
is the richer by the achievement
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